MIPIM | Habiko moving at pace to deliver 3,000-home goal
With more than 800 homes in either planning or about to go into planning, the Muse, Homes England, and Pension Insurance Corporation joint venture is just getting started, according to Lisa Gledhill, managing director for national partnership at Muse.
Formed in November 2024 with an initial £54m investment, Habiko has a target to deliver 3,000 low-carbon and affordable homes within twelve years – at least.
“I think we’re all ambitious to do better than that,” Gledhill told Place at MIPIM.
Habiko has unveiled three projects so far: the 228 homes in Solihull, 240 apartments in Warrington, and 350 flats in Chester.
The homes will ultimately be owned and managed by Verda Living, a PIC initiative that is currently in the process of securing official status as a for-profit registered provider.
Gledhill teased that there will be more Habiko project announcements to come before the end of the year. One of those could be regarding rumoured plans for 300 homes at Liverpool’s Paddington Village.
The Chester project will also go in for planning in the second quarter of the year, she said, joining the other two that are already going through the planning system.
As for where Habiko will be go next, Gledhill said that there was no geographical mandate for Habiko. “There’s nothing off the table,” she said.
“Obviously London is challenging at the moment,” she continued. “We’re not excluding London, but there’s plenty to go at outside London.”
Future sites, though, will need to meet certain criteria. Habiko is only looking to do 200-600 low-carbon, low-energy, affordable homes per project.
The schemes can be standalone entities, like those in Warrington and Chester, or a phase of a wider project. The latter is the case for Solihull, which is one element of Muse and Solihull Council’s 1,600-home Holbeche Place masterplan for the former Mell Square shopping precinct.
Future sites will need to be in areas with strong local leadership, sponsorship, and vision, Gledhill explained.
“We can’t do it on our own,” she said. “If you don’t have that local sponsorship and that local vision, it’s just not going to work.”
They will also need to be in places with jobs and amenities nearby.
“We want to give opportunity for people to put down roots and build their futures,” Gledhill said of the future Verda Living residents.
Architect Howells designed the Holbeche Place project for Habiko. Credit: Howells
A calling for the country
Habiko is the second partnership of its type between Homes England and Muse, the other being ECF, which the two organisations are part of alongside Legal & General.
Muse and Homes England work so well together, Gledhill said, because they share the same strategic agenda – to deliver more homes.
“Residential development is a calling for the country,” Gledhill said, invoking the current housing crisis in the UK.
“Let’s not forget, the country has a desperate need for homes,” she added. “So yes, we have strategic objectives in trying to do something about that.”
Of course they come at it from different angles, Gledhill went on. Muse, as a commercial organisation, expects a profit at the end of the day. That does not translate to a quick return though, Gledhill stressed – nor is it an unreasonable ask, she said.
“We make a return on the equity we invest and the risk that we take,” she said.
AHR Architects designed the Warrington project for Habiko. Credit: via ING
No magic fairy dust
Making partnerships – the one that forms Habiko – work is basic at its core.
“There’s no magic fairy dust,” she said. “It’s about using your ears and having a conversation where you are truly trying to get into the shoes of your partner so you can understand how to make things work.”
It sounds simple, but putting that ethos into practice requires what Gledhill describes as “grit and determination, balanced by humility”.
Partnerships will be doomed from the start, regardless of how much listening goes on, if they lack three components: aligned values and cultures, shared goals, and mutual trust.
Gledhill emphasised that trust has to be at the centre of any partnership.
“People say trust is earned and I don’t believe that,” she said. “Trust can be lost, but trust is a choice. You have to make a choice to trust people.”
When that trust is there and the partners come in with a willingness to listen and collaborate, that is when the magic happens – no fairy dust required.
Excellent progress in a short space of time. Well done to all partners.
By Anonymous